Student Profile: Ryan Riegner

Ryan Riegner had spent three years studying to be an engineer when one day at work his task was to assist unloading the Broadway tour of Cats as it came through his town. That day he decided to change his major and he received his AA in Theatre from Santa Fe College in Gainesville. He is now a senior in the BFA Design and Technology program with a focus on lighting and sound design. Ryan is currently working as the sound designer on the upcoming production of Spring Awakening.

 Ryan says the biggest challenge of this production has been that the director, Joshua Chase Gold, has been working out of the state for the last few months. Gold is a Theatre UCF alumnus who lives in New York City. It is difficult to communicate everything online or over video but the team has done a great job at making it work.

This process has been the most rigorous but will result in the most advance sound system Ryan has ever worked on. “The digital sound console itself is capable of reproducing equipment that would take up an entire room of analog equivalents…and I will need to plan it out very carefully so I don’t get overwhelmed.”

Ryan was the lighting designer for Theatre UCF’s production of Stop Kiss last semester. He was also the lighting designer at the Orlando Repertory Theatre for The Little Mermaid, Jr. After graduation Ryan intends to work locally for a couple years and eventually move out west to pursue his dream of being a moving light programmer for concerts, events, or films.

By: Elle Sullivan